MILITARY planners are drawing up proposals to deploy Royal Marines on armoured fast response boats to fight the threat of people being smuggled across the English Channel, it emerged today.

The move comes in response to demands for help from Britain’s Border Force, which does not have enough boats to properly patrol British coastal waters.

It has just five cutter vessels to cover the UK coastline, only three of which are currently being used.

The agency has approached the Ministry of Defence for help in defending the Channel from people smugglers.

Under plans being drawn up by the military, in response to the request made last week, several armoured assault vessels, normally used to hunt down drug smugglers, are being offered to the Border Force.

The rapid reaction boats, which can travel at 45mph, could be joined by a patrol ship.

The Royal Navy is planning to provide a number of offshore raiding craft, which will be manned by a contingent of Royal Marines, according to a report in the Sunday Times.

However, the grenade launchers and machine guns normally fitted on the ships would be removed before they are deployed, sources have claimed.

Mary Turner

HMC Protector, one of a handful of cutter vessels which the Border Force has

Border Force officials talked to the Royal Navy on Friday

Senior Whitehall official

It is understood that although officials have asked for help, a formal request has not yet been made.

Fears over the ease with which Britain’s borders can be breached by sea are mounting, with reports British fishermen are regularly being approached to take migrants across the Channel.

A senior Whitehall official said: “The MoD has been asked to look at ways in which they could enhance the existing collaboration between the Border Force and the Royal Navy.

“Ministers have not given the go-ahead yet but it’s about scoping out the possibility.”

They added: “Border Force officials talked to the Royal Navy on Friday… It’s a two-way process so the Border Force know what the navy have got and they know what the Home Office don’t want.

“What they don’t want is a bloody great big destroyer cruising around the Channel. They want small, fast boats...that might start happening soon.”

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This comes just days after Express.co.uk revealed how Britain is being targeted by organised criminal gangs smuggling migrants by boat, with illegal Channel crossings ranging from £100 for a place in a dingy to £12,000 to travel in a rigid inflatable.

Concerns over a surge in migrants being smuggled to Britain across the Channel have been prompted by people continuing to arrive in northern France, in the face of tightened security around the Eurotunnel and main ports.

Bernard Barron of the National Sea Rescue Society, a French volunteer organisation, said: “There’s no reason to suppose that you won’t see bigger boats with even more migrants in them attempting the crossing – just like they do in the Mediterranean.”

Giles Debove, of the Calais Police Union, claims to have have seen migrants floating on jerrycans in the Channel.

He said: “These people have come thousands of miles to get here. They are very determined. They don’t seem afraid of anything – even death.”

Responding to the reports that the Royal Navy is preparing to deploy in the Channel, a Ministry of Defence spokesperson told express.co.uk: “There is currently no request for military support in the English Channel.” They refused to elaborate on the situation.